Rim Fire

We were just in Yosemite last week when the Rim Fire started really going. Here is a picture of Yosemite Valley taken from up on Glacier Point with the fire on the horizon.  At first it just looked like a big Sierra thunderhead. This picture was taken Thursday August 22nd at about 1pm. I believe that the fire is around 25 miles away from the spot I was taking the pictures.

But then you look closer and see that  it is actually a huge amount of smoke underneath that white cloud.  The smoke is actually causing its own mini-weather system to form.And the smoke wasn't just contained to one spot it really spread wide depending on the winds of course, but thankfully didn't affect us in Yosemite Valley, or up on Crane Flat campground on Highway 120 (which was closed right after the turnoff for the campground).

 There were some better places to take close up pictures of the smoke the next day when we went up the Tioga Road to Tuolumne Meadows but my husband didn't want to stop, he said it was too scary as we were too close to it. And since he was driving at the time, that was that. He was right of course, because he knows how fire freaks me out because of where we live. Let's just say we were so close that I would not have needed the zoom at all to get some of these pictures because where we were driving was right on the other side of those mountains that you see. Also it was a day later and the fire had doubled in size.

I really hope that the fire is able to be controlled enough where there are homes and towns, and that of course the firefighters stay as safe as possible. But I also hope they let the rest burn, this forest needs it, there's been too many years without a fire. Also the sequoias don't grow unless there is a fire, the seeds don't come out of the pods, there's too much shade from other faster-growing trees, etc. Fire is part of what is supposed to happen in these mountainous forests,

 On Friday as we drove back down to the valley to leave on 140, we stopped at a pullout near the turnout to Foresta and looked back up the mountain towards the fire.  The halo ring was new.

All I could keep thinking was this is Nature's Terrible Beauty, unstoppable (at least for a time) by humans, necessary and vital to the ecosystem, and so aesthetically beautiful in a abstract don't think about the trees burning and the animals running and the humans in danger kind of way.

Wandering Wednesdays - Bodega Bay

I guess it's a Wednesday theme, why not?  There's lots of trip and vacation photos to choose from, we've been traveling a lot lately.  So here's Bodega Bay on our late-March trip.

 I liked seeing all the rock formations, including this arch.  But unfortunately no whales.

It was a great hike that we took all around Bodega Head, a few miles, mostly just along the cliff edge.

Three California Poppies all lined-up on the edge of the cliff.  I had to lie down to get this picture.

Thank goodness for zoom so that I could get this bird picture, he was sitting at the end of a particularly small cliff edge which I was not allowed to go out on. 

Again, we lucked out with the weather, beautiful, clear, sunny.  

 I know this sign at the entrance to Bodega Harbor up on the hill means something important, but it was fun to stand by it.

 Later that evening we caught the sun setting into the Pacific from the top of the mountain on the way back to Bodega Bay from inland.

Wandering Wednesday - Point Reyes

 The beach at Point Reyes. The composition of this photo really pleased me a lot, one of those "great design Nature" kind of things.

The cypress trees on the edge of the cliff were a little protection from the crazy strong wind.  I don't think I've ever been in a windier place.

The ever-present wind curves the cypresses into an almost tunnel shape. The sound in here was amazing. Like being in a big seashell.

The stairs were supposedly equivalent to a 30 story building.  It was fine on the way down. 

The wind died down thanks to the cliff side as soon as we started down the staircase so I was much happier

Inside the lighthouse, the ceiling was a cool shape.

 We were lucky it was such a sunny clear day.  It's one of the foggiest places on the whole coast.  So many colors in the Pacific.

Some of the things left behind are still interesting to look at.

 Then it was all the way back up, step by step.

All 303 of them.

Pigeon Point Lighthouse

Pigeon Point Lighthouse, on the California Highway 1 about 50 miles south of San Francisco.

It was a beautiful windy and sunny day when we were there.

I want to go back and stay at the hostel which is right on the edge of the cliff overlooking the Pacific.

 The lighthouse Fresnel Lens was out for cleaning and repair so we were lucky enough to get to see it up close and personal.

 As you can see, I was fascinated by all 108 of the lenses, their shapes fitted so perfectly,

 the repetition of the shapes,

 lined up and stacked. Color upon color.

 The top looks like a crazy-beautiful spaceship.

 My favorite were all the rainbows thrown around the room, I didn't want to leave!

 Closeup of the window high-up on the lighthouse.

 The lighthouse tower and a chimney in the foreground, where the smoke came up as they burned wood all night to power the steam driven light.

I know, don't look at the sun, but sometimes I can't resist when it's like this.

A Day at the Lake

More summer road trip pictures for you.  I should have put this one at the beginning of the first post.  Here are Zach, me, and Alex along with the Happy Honda which took us all the way across the country and back.  This was moments before we piled in the car and took off on our adventure.  I was wondering if it was a good idea up until the second we actually departed, and then it was all pretty awesome after that.

Driving out of Wendover, Utah across the absolutely straightest road I've ever been on. If it wasn't for the wind, I would not have needed to steer, for about an hour.  Right straight across the salt flats.  Salt as far as you can see to either side of the road. It was beautiful, empty, and it truly looks unlike anyplace you've ever seen.

 Finally there was a change from all the endless salt, some beautiful sparkling blue clear and very very salty water.

Antelope Island State Park in the Great Salt Lake, it was a long walk across the beach to get to the water.

 And then there was a whole lot of wading through calf high water, about a half mile. We finally reached a sand bar and we were finally in the water.  We spent a lot of time just floating in the very salty water.  Even if you don't know how to float you absolutely can thanks to the density of the water.  Five times saltier than the ocean.  Thank goodness they had showers so we could rinse off, because the salt water had dried to a salt crust by the time we got back to the car.  My skin felt very soft afterwards though!

And bonus surprise wildlife, a pronghorn antelope standing by the side of the road on the island.  It just stood there looking at us for the longest time and then it finally walked off.  There is a herd of buffalo also but we only saw two of them really far away.  Way more buffalo to come in the upcoming Yellowstone pictures...

A Visit to SaltLand

This summer I drove across country with my kids.  Neither of them has their driver's licenses, so it was all me.  On our first day we drove from California all the way to Wendover, Utah, which is just over the border from Nevada.  It was a really long day of driving, but we had fun walking around on the salt flats once we got there.

Windy, hot, flat, and salt as far as you can see.

 Alex tried to make a "Salt Angel"

 Looks more like a Salt Frowny Face to me.

 Piles of salt everywhere on the edge of town.

It looks like snow doesn't it?  But those are the brine pools used in making potash.The blue water was so pretty, only salt and water, nothing else could live in there I'd imagine.

 And boy was it ever SOFT.  Like if you dumped all the salt you have in your house water conditioner...

Wendover Will, cigarette and all. I really dislike casinos, so much cigarette smoke to deal with, just not used to it.  And that's pretty much the only thing in Wendover, except for the salt flats.